Tommy Hadjis, left, general manager of Left Coast Brewing Co. in San Clemente, and his cousin Shawn Hadjis, director of sales and marketing, offer a view of Left Coast's tasting room at 1245 Puerta del Sol.

These are half-gallon growlers that patrons of Left Coast Brewing's new tasting room will be able to buy, take home and return for refills.

This is a portion of Left Coast Brewing Co.'s new tasting room at 1245 Puerta del Sol in San Clemente as it was being readied for opening.

Shawn, John and Tommy Hadjis, from left, show some of the 14 barrels where select brews will be aged for six months before making their debut in Left Coast Brewing Co.'s San Clemente tasting room. John Hadjis and his brother George are co-owners of Left Coast Brewing.

Tommy Hadjis, left, and his cousin Shawn stand next to several Left Coast Brewing Co. tanks with four-packs of beers being marketed nationwide.

Ever since Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co. was named best small brewery in the world at the 2004 World Beer Cup, fans of its founding family’s San Clemente brewery have wondered, “Can we come by and taste some fresh new brews?”

The wait is just about over. Left Coast Brewing Co. is preparing to open a tasting room behind its facility at 1245 Puerta del Sol in the Talega Business Park.

The room will offer 12 flavors of Left Coast beers. It’s nearly ready to roll, awaiting final sign-off from San Clemente’s Community Development Department.

“I am thinking we are about two weeks out,” General Manager Tommy Hadjis said Thursday.

The brewery, established in 2003 by Hadjis’ father, George – co-founder of the Oggi’s chain with his brother John – says it produced 7,400 barrels in 2012, shipping its products around California and to eight other states. Expansion into 10 more states is in the works. Left Coast gave the public a tease when in 2011 and 2012 it teamed with the Chamber of Commerce to host the San Clemente Beer Festival. It’s a fundraiser for local programs that support military families at Camp Pendleton. The third annual festival is coming April 20.

BEER CLUB

Left Coast plans to start a beer club whose members will get first taste of new brews, including exclusive ones aged in 50-gallon barrels in the tasting room.

“We’ll also have our one-off beers,” Hadjis said. “We only make it once. We’ll have five full time and, right now, we have a seasonal, so that’s six. We have six other beers that are one-off beers, ones we’ve barrel-aged.”

FROM THE BARREL

The bourbon and rye whiskey barrels are currently filled with Voo Doo stout.

“It conditions and gets all the characteristics of the barrel,” Hadjis said. “Then we take it out and carbonate it. Seven bourbon and seven rye whiskey. Once we’re satisfied with the flavor, we’re going to blend them … and possibly add some more Voodoo on top to make it a good mixture so it’s not too aggressive. If we like it how it is, we may just leave it how it is. We want you to taste a lot of the barrel, the characteristics from it, and the oak.”

The limited-edition beers will be available only in the tasting room, Hadjis said, with club members getting first crack. “We’ll probably limit them to a certain amount of bottles. We’ll only have so much,” he said.

AT THE BAR

Visitors will be able to sample the 12 brews on tap in 5-ounce, 10-ounce and 16-ounce tasters. Prices will start at $2 for 5 ounces, $3 for 10 ounces and $4 for 16 ounces. Beer flights (five at a time) will be available at a discount.

Patrons also will be able to buy bottles to take home, including half-gallon growlers to bring back and refill.

“We’ll have kegs, if you have a system at home – pretty much all the flavors,” Hadjis said.

There will be no food – except maybe popcorn and chips – but food trucks can be expected to stop by at times, Hadjis said. There’s also a plan to add TVs behind the bar.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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